


nihil pro quo

by misura



Category: American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Genre: M/M, Pre-Canon, Prison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-13 13:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2152767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shadow did not know if he would be able to tell that Low Key's mouth was not Laura's. He had never paid any particular attention to people's mouths.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nihil pro quo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WildAndFreeHearts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildAndFreeHearts/gifts).



> first off, I honestly don't know why my copy of _American Gods_ spells Low Key's name differently from the way his character tag spells it. I went with the spelling from my book, though.
> 
> secondly, hi! you listed some kinks that were not my kinks in your letter and some kinks that _were_ my kinks, and I didn't really use any of them very much in your EDoL story, so um, have a treat? (it's still not super kinky, but it does have a slightly higher rating and it's got people talking about sex so um.)

Shadow had not said 'yes', the first time Low Key had offered him a blowjob - it had been a casual, 'by the way' kind of offer, like there was nothing to it at all, and Shadow had been glad of that, glad that he could turn it down without making a fuss.

It was only later that he realized that he had not said 'no', either. He was, at that point, no longer entirely sure of what he _had_ said; he thought he might have been three-quarters asleep at the time. He could not ask Low Key, of course, but he could tell from the way Low Key acted around him that whatever Shadow had told him had been both polite and indecisive.

So. Nothing to worry about, clearly.

Three weeks passed before Low Key asked again. Shadow was more awake this time around; he'd just woken from a dream. He might have been running away from something or someone, or maybe he'd been running _towards_ something or someone, like a messenger, carrying some piece of vital news. Dreams were like that, Shadow had found.

"Why would you want to give me a blowjob?"

It would be pointless to say that he was married, that he loved his wife. Many prisoners had wives or girlfriends, and many of them, when asked, would proclaim loudly that they loved them.

This did not mean they would not have sex with anyone else, if only in their fantasy. Shadow had touched himself and imagined it was Laura. (Her hands were much smaller than his, though, and a lot less calloused, and so the fantasy had not really worked as well as Shadow had hoped. He had still come, but he had come knowing the hand on his dick was his own, not someone else's.)

Shadow did not know if he would be able to tell that Low Key's mouth was not Laura's. He had never paid any particular attention to people's mouths.

"Because then you would have to give one to me, if I wanted one," Low Key explained, which sounded fair to Shadow and, indeed, a perfectly sound reason to offer someone a blowjob.

He and Low Key shared a cell, so it would be much more convenient for Low Key to have Shadow owe him a blowjob than anyone else.

Shadow considered if he wanted Low Key to give him a blowjob. If Laura had walked into his cell and offered him one, he would not have hesitated; if some prisoner Shadow did not know very well had done so, he would have turned them down without a second thought.

Low Key was not quite a stranger, though, even if Shadow was not sure if he should consider him a friend. Grifters were not good people to call friends, he felt, without any judgment attached to the feeling; it was simply a matter of being practical.

Shadow would not like Low Key to cheat someone who had trusted him because Shadow had called him a friend, however unlikely that scenario might be.

"That's fair, isn't it?" Low Key asked, and Shadow realized he had been silent for a long while.

"That's fair," he agreed, because it was. "I was just thinking about whether or not I want one right now."

"Well, no hurry," Low Key said. "The offer's still good for tomorrow, and the day after that."

"And the day after _that_?" Shadow did not know what day that would be. It was too dark to see his calendar to check.

"No." Low Key sounded a little amused and a little annoyed at once.

"So it's a limited-time offer."

"Of course," Low Key said, and Shadow found himself nodding in agreement. Of course the offer was only good for a limited amount of time. Wasn't that the way it always worked?

You didn't have forever to decide what you wanted. You made a choice, and then you lived with the consequences, whether they were good or bad.

"Tomorrow," Shadow said. Perhaps he would call Laura first. He would not tell her about the blowjob, of course, but it would be nice, he thought, to hear her voice. "You can give me a blowjob tomorrow."

"Very well," Low Key said. "It's a deal."

Shadow did not dream again that night, and the next one, true to his word, Low Key gave him a blowjob. It was very good, even if Shadow was a little surprised at how easy it was to pretend that it was Laura giving him a blowjob, instead of Low Key. He even fantasized that he had buried his hands in her hair, which he would have considered impossible, given how short Low Key kept his hair.

Low Key never did ask him to repay the favor, although he was transferred only a few days later, so Shadow imagined that perhaps he had intended to ask and had simply gotten unlucky, in being transferred so unexpectedly.


End file.
